Friday, December 12, 2014

Happy holidays! Is it just me or is anyone else completely shocked by the fact that in 2 weeks Christmas will be over. I of course love gifting handmade gifts, however my "to make" list seems to be growing daily, while the number of days until Christmas are dwindling. I'm fairly confident I'll get it all done, starting with this quilt that will be given to a friend for Christmas. I'm certain she will absolutely love it, so I'm pushing to get it finished.

I have had this quilt idea in my head ever since the first granny squares quilt I made back in 2012. Nora uses the original granny almost daily, and I always think "I really want to make an adult sized version of this baby quilt," and that's saying something, as I really do not tend to repeat quilt patterns once I've made them the first time. I'd much rather play with a new design, than something I've already done. So to have this niggling voice egging me on to make another for the past 3 years is really saying something.

There is absolutely nothing that I do not love about this quilt. In fact it will take much self control not to hoard this one for me and actually gift it to said friend. I cut into my half yard bundle of Modern Lace that I purchased from Dragonfly Fabrics and I don't think that there could be a more perfect marriage than this pattern and this fabric. Just the right amount of vintage traditional charm with just enough of a whimsy modern touch. It's love.

I upsized the individual squares to 5.5" unfinished (5" finished) and assembled in the same fashion that I did here. Lots and lots of chain piecing. And I can happily say I only had to seam rip one row after I sewed it backwards! Win.

The goal is to get this guy basted this weekend so I can get quilting during Monday's nap time, wish me luck that I'll have a finished quilt to show in the next week, and happy holiday sewing!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Who can believe it! I'm blogging...about a quilt! I feel like its been forever that I've finished a real quilt, and probably that's because its been far too long since I have. This has actually been finished for a few weeks, but I've been waiting for a good day to get outside and take some pictures! This whole winter thing with its crazy early sunsets is cramping my quilt photographing style.

Anyways, back to the quilt. I made this for my soon to be nephew, who is due to join this world later this month! My sister in law is looking ready to have that baby any day, so maybe baby G won't make his mama wait 11 days past her due date, like another little lady I know.

My sister in law is doing a woodland creatures sort of theme to the nursery, so of course this Woodwinked fabric bundle I picked up at Rose Room Quilts was just the ticket. I absolutely love that this little boy quilt has zero blue in it! Its just such a knee jerk reaction that when I pull fabrics for a boy baby quilt, blue is the first color to be included. This is a nice reminder that blue doesn't have to be the starring color every time. Although, I will say when I showed my husband, his first comment was "there's no blue." Seriously hubby, leave the quilt making to the professionals :-)

I found this super soft minky-like fabric at Joanns, and it is just perfect for the back, because not only does it leave the quilt incredibly soft and snuggle worthy, but follows along with the woodland creatures theme. Like the cheater quilt I recently finished, I chose to omit the batting, quilting together just the quilt top and backing print. Because the backing has such a heavy weight to it, this quilt still has a nice weight to it, without being overly bulky and heavy. I also applique'd baby's first initial using my cricut, like I did with baby N's quilt.

The binding is a quilters linen cotton in straw from Robert Kaufman. I have had this in my stash forever, like before I discovered my love of grey as a neutral, so it felt great to use it up! As for the quilt top construction, you can read more about the size of triangles and assembly method I used in this post about the quilt top.

We'll be waiting to see if baby G makes it here for Christmas this year, or if he'd rather be a New Years baby instead, but either way, we can't wait to meet him!

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